Islamabad Erupts: The Fight for Pakistan’s Democracy
As of recently, major clashes have taken place in Islamabad. But what is the context behind the clashes? The clashes are protests, which are dampened by the police, who attempt to stop such protests. The focal point of these clashes is former international cricketer and former prime minister Imran Khan, founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), currently jailed for previous clashes in September 2024, but he has been in and out of jail ever since he was deposed in no-confidence motion back in April 2022. Against his fight to “restore ‘true democracy’ and ‘justice’ in Pakistan” stands the incumbent unpopular government of Shehbaz Sharif, who took after Imran Khan’s fall from power, yet he is crucially backed by the Pakistani military. The military could be argued to be the reason for Imran Khan’s fall from power, which is not without a basis since they have ruled Pakistan for about 33 years of its 77-year existence and have exercised influence such that the last 5 prime ministers of Pakistan have been convicted or imprisoned. Thus, what is the message and context of these clashes in Islamabad between citizens and the police?
Message
(above tweet taken from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s official Twitter/X account)
One demand of the PTI was to return the people’s mandate, with alleged vote-rigging in the February 8th general election, leading critics to claim that the election was stolen. This view of stealing the election is supported by much of the international community and its media, including the UK and the European Union. This view is reciprocated by the BBC News, who claim the election was “marred by allegations of widespread vote fraud and interference”. Another demand made was to free the many political prisoners and demonstrators stuck in Pakistani prisons. An additional demand was to “revoke the 26th Amendment and restore the constitution”. The 26th Amendment has changed the judicial system such that there is fixed three-term for the Supreme Court justice, who will be chosen by parliament and weakens the Supreme Court’s power to deal with certain cases. This is described by the PTI’s leader in parliament as “suffocating a free judiciary”. But how and through whom did the PTI manage to rally up so much for their demands?
Context
(Image of Khan and Babi take from https://madhyamamonline.com/world/imran-khan-wife-bushra-bibi-gets-7-year-jail-unlawful-marriage-1253687)
The PTI, rose in popularity as a “Third-Way” in 2008, away from the dominant parties of the centre-left Pakistan People’s Party and the centre-right Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz and became the ruling party just 10 years later. Yet despite it maintaining its popularity, it has been suppressed by the government, which ruled after its fall, and the military - the likely orchestrators of such fall. Imran Khan is currently in jail, thus it wasn’t him who organised these protests. Instead, they were led by his wife, Bushra Bibi, who only recently got out of jail on bail, along with the Chief Minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Amin Gundapur. Reportedly, hundreds of thousands from various socio-economic backgrounds marched onto Islamabad, resulting in the closure of major highways and roads and schools and colleges, and the suppression of internet services. The location was not randomly chosen by Bibi, since the PTI has been popular here and it is a direct affront of leading governmental figures, who opposed and cracked down on this march.
Aftermath
As a consequence of those crackdowns, the Pakistani military, police and government issued severe repercussions to those taking in this public display. Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi and many hundreds working in the PTI were handed many charges including and not restricted to terrorism, breaking Section 144,which prohibits gathering of 4+ people, and holding a protest in the capital city. At least 500 to over two thousand people have been arrested by the police and around 10-200 people are claimed by PTI members to be dead by fatal shootings from live rounds fired by the police and the military. However, it is likely that anyone missing has been injured and/or died from these protests. One additional allegation includes military personnel pushing a protestor off a 25 ft-tall tower, made out of shipping containers. However, the government has claimed that the protestors were armed, which appears to justify their peaceful response, wherein they claim nobody was killed. Although hospital authorities, according to Al-Jazerra and BBC News, have claimed that they were forbidden to share hospital lists, which will include details of the dead and the injured. Therefore this clash adds pressure to the ruling coalition government and to the military from Imran Khan and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, but the long-term of this one clash, remains to be seen.